The present invention relates to a camera having a data transmission function for sending and/or receiving data to/from an externally provided device such as a computer.
Recently, digital cameras have become well known. For example, a digital camera captures an image of an object, stores the image data as digital image data in a memory, and then transmits the digital image data to an externally provided device, such as a computer. Generally, the data is transmitted through a cable (e.g., a SCSI cable, an RS-232C cable, and the like) connecting the camera and the computer.
Portable devices such as a digital camera are brought to various places, and at any place, the transmission of data from the camera may be desired. In such a case, i.e., when data transmission becomes necessary, a cable, as noted above, is a necessary component. However, it is bothersome to carry a cable about with the digital camera. Furthermore, the shapes or types of cable connectors may be different, i.e., incompatible, if the type of the cable receptacle of the computer is different. Accordingly, even if a user brings a cable together with the camera, that cable cannot be used when the computer intended to receive the data has a different type of cable receptacle. Therefore, generally, it is difficult to transmit data from a digital camera to a computer.
Recently, an infrared data transmission standard called IrDA has become popular. The IrDA standard is intended to facilitate data transmission between a portable terminal (e.g., a digital camera) and computers following the IrDA standard, using infrared light.
Generally, to add an infrared data transmission function to a camera is difficult, because it causes an increase in cost and further requires an increase in the size of the camera body.